The Way You Smile
by Shiroi Hoshi
Summary: He visited her in the hospital. She's lost her sight, and he doesn't see what that's got to do with him. Slowly, a bond began to form between them, and tragedy strikes where nothing they can do will fix anything. "Thanks for being my eyes" OkiKagu oneshot


**Hey guys. My second OkiKagu oneshot. This idea just shot through my mind, and I had to write it down :D hope you guys like it, and please review :D**

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><p>Gintoki grabbed the doctor by his crisp-white collar and lifted him off the ground, his eyes blazing darkly. 'Huh? What did you say, bastard? What did you just say?'<p>

'Gin-san, calm down…' Shinpachi made a few pathetic gestures with his hands, and let his arms drop to his sides. He wasn't in the mood to make peace either. He wanted to strangle the doctor as much as Gintoki did.

'S—Sakata-san,' the doctor choked out. '…put me down.'

Gintoki let go and turned around, running his hand through his silver hair in exasperation. 'Damn it. _Damn_ it.'

'Sensei, are you sure?' Shinpachi knelt on the ground beside the traumatized doctor. 'Can you do a retest? Maybe there's a way out of this. You can't really be telling us that Kagura-chan…'

'Shinpachi-kun,' the doctor regarded him with a look of pity and shook his head. 'I'm really sorry, but there's nothing we can do. Kagura-chan is now blind.'

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><p>Kondo had insisted that Hijikata and Sougo followed him to the hospital. 'We need to have a heart, and care for the citizens we are protecting!'<p>

'Kondo-san, you just want to see if Otae-san is there, don't you.'

'Shut up, Toushi! I really just want to embrace the goodness in me!'

'Whatever, Kondo-san.'

Sougo ran a hand through his hair and sighed, walking two paces behind his superiors. It was a Sunday morning. His only day off, and he had to spend it visiting that China girl in hospital?

She was a Yato, for heaven's sake. Any injury she got would be gone in a while. Nothing can be too serious. There was no need to fuss.

'Ah, Yorozuya.' Hijikata took a long drag on his cigarette and nodded at Gintoki in greeting. 'We heard about Kagura, and Kondo-san wanted to visit.'

Gintoki glanced at Kondo, whose eyes were near shining. 'Otae isn't here.'

Kondo gave a groan. 'But we're here to see Kagura-chan.'

'Yeah. She's in there.'

They followed Gintoki into the hospital and stopped when he stood outside the door of a room, and turned to them.

'What's wrong, Danna?' Sougo raised an eyebrow at the silver-haired samurai.

'Do you Shinsengumi even know why Kagura is hospitalized?'

'Speaking of which… Kondo-san,' Hijikata turned to the commander. 'Why?'

'Eh, I don't know either…' Kondo blushed a bright red.

'What are your brains made of? Mashed potato? Kagura got beaten up by her brother and she's sustained serious injuries. Her internal wounds are almost impossible to heal…'

'That's horrible!' Kondo's eyes shifted to the door.

'And Kagura's blind now.'

'What?' Sougo's head shot up. _China's blind? But how? She's that violent, vulgar, sukonbu-munching alien with the innocent cerulean eyes. She couldn't have gone blind._

Gintoki opened the door and stepped inside. Shinpachi was sitting by her bedside, holding an open manga. His face was flushed red and he was having a nosebleed.

'Shinpachi, why did you stop? What happened next, after the guy brought the girl into his room? What happened?'

'K-Kagura-chan…' Shinpachi rubbed at his nose hastily on his clothes when he saw Gintoki and the Shinsengumi enter the room, and snapped the book shut, tossing it under the bed. 'Uh, I'll tell you some other day…'

'Shinpachi!'

'Kagura-chan, I can't! I can't say it out now!' Shinpachi gave a little scream and ran out of the room yelling. 'That was _humiliating_!'

'_What_ exactly was he reading to you, China?'

Kagura's mouth opened a little in surprise. 'Sadist?'

'Well, good morning to you too.'

'What are you people doing here?'

'We came to visit you, since we're such caring people, right, Toushi? Sougo?'

'Yeah.' Hijikata reached into his pocket to take out a cigarette but Kondo stopped him. 'Oh right.'

'I'm going to buy strawberry milk.' Gintoki ruffled Kagura's hair and left, ignoring her shouts of 'I'm going to kill you!'

'Uh…' Kondo started to sweat at the unnerving silence. 'Well then, get well soon, Kagura-chan. We'll be going now…'

'That was awkward,' Hijikata muttered and followed Kondo out.

Sougo remained in the corner of the room and stared at Kagura in disbelief. 'You look like crap, China.'

'Thanks a lot, asshole. I'm going to mess your face up so bad once I get out of this bed.'

'That is, if you can.' Sougo raised an eyebrow at her extreme optimism. 'Anyway, get out of that bed soon.' He turned to leave, giving her one last look.

'Hey Sadist?'

'Yeah?'

'Why is it so dark?'

It was just an innocent, simple question, but Sougo could feel his heart breaking slowly. 'Well… maybe it's because it's a stormy day today?'

'Really?' Kagura's face lit up into her bright smile. 'What does it look like today? The sky, the park, this hospital room? Tell me.'

'Um.' Sougo blinked. 'The sky is… kind of grey and the park is… noisy. And your room is just too white.'

'I see.' Kagura laughed. 'Bye.'

'Bye.'

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><p>'Hey Sougo,' Hijikata called out, a thin stream of smoke drifting from between his lips. 'Where you going?'<p>

'Out.' The First Division Captain of Shinsengumi slipped on his jacket and stuffed his eye-mask into his pocket and left, not giving the other man a chance to reply.

It was a hot night. The pavement seemed to ripple as he walked, steam rising from the dirt pavements and gravel. He had no idea where he was walking, not what he was supposed to be doing.

When his booted feet led him to the hospital, his mind immediately whirled into turmoil. _What am I doing here? _His crimson gaze slid from lit window to window, until he caught sight of a head with bright orange hair scraped back loosely into twin telephone buns. _China?_

He walked up to the window and knocked on it. The girl's head whipped towards the direction of the sound, a look of mild panic on her face, her azure blue eyes cruelly bandaged from view.

'Who are you?'

'You don't look good, China.'

The unease faded from her face and her lips tilted upward into a condescending smirk. 'Well, if it isn't the Sadist. Missed me?'

'Like hell I would,' Sougo snapped, and widened his eyes. _What the heck did I just do?_

'Mmmhmm, sure.'

Sougo hoisted himself over the window and dropped into the room.

'You didn't just come inside, did you? Visiting hours are over, asshole. The nurses won't hear me if I scream. You better not try anything funny, or I _will_ mess your face up real bad—'

'—once you get out from that bed,' Sougo drawled. 'Sure, sure. I'm so scared. Ah, help me.'

'Shut _up_, you bastard.'

'Hey, I took the time to visit you.'

'So make yourself useful.'

Sougo raised an eyebrow. 'You're not exactly in the position to order people around, you handicap.'

'Shut up, I mean it.' Kagura's head lowered and her fingers curled around the white hospital sheets of the bed. 'Hey?'

'Hmm?'

'What was today like?'

'What do you mean?' Sougo fixed the girl with a questioning stare.

'The weather, the people. What happened today? You go on patrols, don't you?'

'Patrols are boring, China. Nothing much ever happens. Nothing to see.'

'You don't know,' Kagura's voice rose a little. 'There is so much to see. Don't _ever_ tell me that there is _nothing_ to _see_. I _want _to see every little thing that happens everyday. I want to look at the sky. I want to sit in the park and watch people walk by. I want to _see_ "nothing much" happening. I want to see Sadaharu, Gin-chan, Shinpachi.' Her lips started to quiver, and the bandage around her eyes started to dot with water marks.

_She's crying._

Sougo didn't respond. He watched her, vulnerable and scared, and frustrated. He watched her cry.

'Please,' she whispered. 'Please tell me.'

Sougo ran a tongue over his lips to moisten them. 'It's hot.' He studied her emotionless face. 'It was a hot day. The sun was like a big red ball hanging in the pastel blue sky, like a drawing of a child with no artistic talent.'

Kagura cracked a small smile.

Satisfied, he continued. 'The people were like chickens. They don't stop talking. Everywhere I go, they deafen me. Danna was buying Jump from the convenience store. And he was arguing with the cashier for giving him less change. Kondo-san was stalking Otae-san, and Hijikata that bastard was squeezing mayonnaise on his rice again. It makes me want to puke, so I tried to blast him with the bazooka, and missed.'

'And then?'

'I blew up the shop instead.'

Kagura laughed. 'That's fun.'

'Yeah.' Sougo smirked.

'Thanks,' Kagura's fingers groped the sheets until they found Sougo's hand. He started and stared in disbelief at her hand on his.

'What?' he managed to rasp out, unused to the warmth spreading inside his system.

'For being my eyes,' Kagura whispered. 'Thanks.'

There was a moment's silence. '…you're welcome.'

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><p>Sougo visited Kagura every night. He told her everything he saw happened during the day, and she would laugh, and smile, nodding, as if she saw everything he had seen, as if she understood.<p>

To Kagura, she felt as if she could still see. The words Sougo used formed images in her mind. The faces of familiar people and places, the description of the sky, the weather and people.

Sougo was her pair of eyes. She saw everything he did.

'It rained today. Millions of raindrops, like the sky was crying,' Sougo would say. 'The mood was gloomy. Nothing felt exciting.' And Kagura would make a face, and pretend to feel gloomy.

To Sougo, it made him feel useful, as a human. It gave him a sense of responsibility, to explain to Kagura everything he saw. It made him pay more attention during patrols, and Hijikata was shocked at his sudden change of attitude.

Sougo climbed in through the window again, and tossed a pack of sukonbu onto Kagura's bed. 'Something for you.'

Kagura didn't answer.

'Hey China. What's wrong?'

'Sadist…?' her voice was hoarse, like she'd been crying.

'Yeah?'

'I feel so useless and stupid. I can't do anything.'

'What?' Sougo wasn't comfortable with the sudden change in her optimism. 'Why?'

'I can't see. I feel so stupid. Everything's black. There are no colors in my life. I'm starting to forget the color of the sky. How blue looks like. I'm forgetting the color of my…eyes.' Kagura bit her lip.

'What happened?' Sougo pried her fingers from the bandage around her eyes. 'What's wrong?'

'The doctor says…that I won't live long. The internal injuries have started to bleed again. They can't stop it,' she sobbed. 'I won't live much longer. I haven't done much. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do without my eyes.'

'Shut up,' Sougo hissed, and before he knew it, his lips had closed over hers. He felt her body stiffen. He leaned back, and touched his finger to his lips. _What have I done?_

'Did you just… kiss me?' Kagura whispered.

'Yeah, I did.'

'Why did you do that?'

'I wanted to show you one of the things you can do without the need to _look._' Sougo muttered. 'Sight is not everything. You can feel it, can't you? You can feel my mouth on yours.'

'Shut up, don't be so descriptive,' Kagura snapped, her cheeks turning red.

'That's more like the China I know. Start cursing me.' Sougo sat down in the chair. 'So, you want to know what I saw today?'

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><p>During her funeral, he stood at the back of all the people who were dressed in black. He kept his head down, and hands in his pockets.<p>

He waited until everyone left, and slowly made his way to the front. Quietly, he dropped himself down on the grass in front of her tombstone and sat down cross-legged.

He let the silence drag on and on, until he reached out and stroked one finger across the cold, gray stone.

'Hey China,' he whispered. 'I bet you can see up there.' He looked up at the sky. 'Can you see me, and everybody else?'

He turned back to the tombstone. 'How're you? Why don't I tell you what happened today?' he gave a soft, lonely chuckle. 'I bet you can see everything clearer than I can, but don't judge me.

'The weather is good. The breeze is really refreshing. The leaves on the trees are turning into a swirl of red, gold and orange. Autumn's coming really soon. Everyone was crying today. Can you believe it? But I didn't. See how manly I am.' Sougo laughed again, this time at himself. He felt his throat tighten, and eyes blur. 'Huh, guess I couldn't help it in the end.'

The first teardrop made its way down his face. 'And the sky today is so blue, without a single cloud. The sun is shining gently, radiant and beautiful…just like the way you smile.'

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, hope you guys liked it. Please review, coz I'm not sure if my OkiKagu is good, or if I write crap stories. So, critics are welcome too, just tell me what you think so i can write better in the future (: THANKS!**


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